Schubert - Symphony 8 'Unfinished' [Maazel-Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]
Schubert's Eighth is an enigma, a truncated Symphony, something Schubert couldn't, or maybe wouldn't want to finish, but what we have here is a strange work in torso, it actually gains from being incomplete!, i really love this work, five years ago i would easily have said that his Ninth was superior, now i'm really not so sure.
Maazel conducted this Symphony on tour in Japan with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1980, the Japanese audience are very quiet, but also at the end of the work the applause is subdued, hmmm, maybe the minor key work subdued them, it's certainly a lovely sombre work, and with no rousing finale to get everyone on their feet, maybe they were all introspective, i certainly find it a quiet work of deep introspection.
The second movement is so superb, it starts off gentle and sweet on high strings, but also melancholy in the minor, it certainly has an air of innocence about it, and then it has a swaggering sad march on the opening tune [1:10+], it quietens down, and a new melancholy theme appears, this time with the woodwind solo playing a prominent role [2:21+], this new theme also has a swaggering forte version, like a massive military funeral march [3:33], the opening comes back [5:13] and Schubert repeats this whole thing again [with differences of course], until the coda comes along [10:28], and it quietly comes to a close, it's this alternating process that Schubert uses, between soft and loud, and first and secondary themes, which really tug against the soul.
Here's William Savola conducting the second movement on YouTube.
